‘The Simpsons’ Producers Announce White Actors Will No Longer Voice Characters Of Color
After being called out for waiting so long, producers for the iconic animated series ‘The Simpsons‘ have announced that white actors will no longer voice characters of color. The decision arrives in a week of shows and actors addressing white actors’ portrayals of non-white characters.
Producers for Fox’s long-running series simply stated, “Moving forward, ‘The Simpsons‘ will no longer have white actors voice non-white characters.” In the same breath, creators and actors for ‘Family Guy‘ followed suit, with white actor Mike Henry stepping away from his character, “Cleveland Brown.”
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Earlier in the week, Jenny Slate of Netflix’s animated series ‘Big Mouth‘ announced her exit from the show to leave the voiceover position of her biracial character to someone black/mixed. On the same day, Kristen Bell stepped away form her role on ‘Central Park,’ making way for a black/mixed-race actor as well.
Furthermore, back in February ‘The Simpsons‘ actor Hank Azaria vowed to stop playing his Indian character “Apu” after having played the role for more than 30 years. His announcement came after widespread criticism stemming from the 2017 documentary, ‘The Problem With Apu.’
The documentary’s creator, Hari Kondabolu, was one of the people who called the show and its creators out as well. He took to Twitter, “Re: The Simpsons using People of Color to voice minority characters. All it took was 30 years, a documentary, more relevant shows doing it first & a conversation about racism spurred by police brutality & murder. Going off social media now until next wave of death threats pass.”
Re: The Simpsons using People of Color to voice minority characters. All it took was 30 years, a documentary, more relevant shows doing it first & a conversation about racism spurred by police brutality & murder.
Going off social media now until next wave of death threats pass.
— Hari Kondabolu (@harikondabolu) June 26, 2020
RELATED: Jenny Slate Leaves Netflix’s “Big Mouth”, Says “Black Characters Should Be Played By Black Actors”
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